Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Medieval Georgian Sites Placed On UNESCO Endangered List

The Bagrati Cathedral and Gelati Monastery, two jewels of medieval Georgian architecture, are under threat.

That's according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), whose World Heritage Committee is holding its annual session this week in Brazil. The committee maintains a catalog of nearly 900 natural and cultural sites of "outstanding universal value," all of which must maintain strict standards of preservation to retain UNESCO assistance and funding.

In a July 29 statement, the committee expressed "serious concerns" about the state of the two Georgian sites, which were first added to the World Heritage List in 1994. It pointed to "irreversible interventions carried out on the site as part of a major reconstruction project," leading to the placement of the cathedral and monastery on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.